Hi all,
so last week I completed my first ever organised event. A 25 mile ride, which is part of a 3 part series (25 miler, 35 miler, 50 miler)
It was a fun ride, but I struggled a bit.
I’d done a 30 miler as a bit of a shakedown on my winter ride, make sure all was well, and it felt great. Could’ve turned around and done it all over again. Confidence was high! Mate was also on his winter bike but really struggled.
In fact he struggled so much, he decided to do the event on his summer race bike. Now, on the face of it, this didn’t seem like an issue - until we set off! Trying to keep up was a real struggle. Over the 90minute ride we averaged 45Watts more than the shakedown ride (or at least I did trying to keep up!). I finished broken, knackered and would never have been able to do much more.
This has me thinking of upgrades for the 50 miler.
Now, it is winter, it is wet and I love the comfort my winter setup offers:
Full mudguards
40mm tyres (sooo comfy)
so I’m happy with what I’ve got, but if it’s nicer weather - or at least dryer, I’d like to have something I can swap out to and bridge the gap a bit. Plus, in summer I’d rather the bike become more of a racer, rather than an endurance bike anyway.
As stated above, I’m running 40mm Challenge Strada tyres on Mavic Aksium wheels. I like the setup, it’s comfy and I feel confident on damp/leafy terrain which is what I wanted.
I was thinking of getting Zipp 303 wheels with a 30mm tyre for when it looks nicer.
I do also own a rim brake Cube Litening which has 25mm tyres, and is light as a feather and feels like a rocket to ride. But still leaning toward my Ribble CGR being my one bike to rule them all, just with a few tweaks. The Cube I’m really seeing as my “it’s a lovely day and I want to go mad” bike. It’s more of a bike I’d wanted to own rather than a sensible “needs to do a specific job” purchase.
anyway - how much difference would the wheel/tyre swap make? is there a way to calculate this? can I plug info into a calculator and see the difference between the two setups?